Jack Pelham

I know a man who is himself
Too important to like me
But not too important
To pretend he does.

Many would rather be wrong
Than to be corrected by somebody else.

How have you learned this attitude—
This smug presumption that you—
As if by definition—
Are right about most everything
And are the rightful watchdog
Over all truth and righteousness
In the name of God himself?

If you argue long with a fool—
And well and true and honorably—
You should be prepared
To be accused of arrogance.

Does the baby
Not also belong
To the father
And to itself
And to God?

How can we pass through this generation
Without making its mistakes?

The stuff you never thought of
Is stuff you’ll never think of
As long as you’re not thinking.

That’s how it works.

Both sides have their imperfections,
And this is immensely useful in a game
In which your side’s most popularly-cherished value
Lies in always having something about the other to criticize.

For most, the Christian experience is not one that includes the learning of all the documents collected into the Bible in its various versions. Rather, it involves adopting a convenient overview of it all, even without exhaustive study of the whole, or any sizeable portion of it.

If I were told that I had but a month to remain here on Earth
Surely I would reflect on many things in my waning days
As I said my goodbyes to this place and its people.